1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer having a function for printing one or more index prints on which a plurality of thumbnail images is arranged.
2. Description of the Related Art
A printer having a function for printing one or more index prints, in which a plurality of thumbnail images is arranged on one or more paper sheets, is conventionally put in practical use, for example shown in publication of Japanese patent application 2001-333270 or 8-29881. The index prints are generally used for confirming the images memorized in the same file or recorded on the same recording medium such as a memory card. For example, when a user takes a plurality of images by a digital still camera, the images memorized in the same file or in the same memory card are printed as one or more index prints. The user utilizes the index prints for confirming contents of the images, for deciding the images to be printed individually and for deciding printing frame sizes such as an E-frame or a panorama frame, and so on.
A typical printer memorizes a plurality of kinds of templates in which a number, a frame size and an arrangement of boxes are specified. When the user selects one template for printing the index prints, the printer prepares image data of thumbnail images having a frame size corresponding to the box size of the selected template. The printer further prepares an edited data on which the image data of the thumbnail images are applied to the positions of the boxes arranged corresponding to the selected template. Thus, the printer prints the index prints with using the edited data.
When all the thumbnail images to be printed cannot be printed on the same paper sheet, the thumbnail images are printed on a plurality of paper sheets. The frame size and the arrangement of the thumbnail images on each paper sheet are followed to printing format of the selected template.
Since the index prints are used for confirming the contents of the images, it is preferable that the paper sheets used for printing the index prints are as smaller as possible in economical respect. On the other hand, it is preferable that the paper sheets used for printing the index prints are as larger as possible in respect of confirming the contents of the images. Majority of the users, however, attaches weight to the economical efficiency than the respect of confirming the contents of the images. The user attaching weight to the economical efficiency may select a template having the largest number of the thumbnail images arranged on the same paper sheet so as to reduce the number of the index prints.
For example, it is assumed that the printer has two templates respectively having sixteen boxes and twenty-five boxes. When the number of the thumbnail images to be printed is equal to or smaller than sixteen, only one paper sheet is used for printing the index print in either template is selected. There is no preference which template is selected in commercial respect. Since the smaller the number of the boxes arranged on the paper sheet is, the larger the size of each box becomes. It is preferable to select the template having sixteen boxes in respect of confirming the contents of the images. A suitable template can exist corresponding to the number of the thumbnail images to be printed, by which the frame size of the thumbnail images can be enlarged.
Thus, it is more preferable to select the most suitable template by which the number of paper sheets becomes the smallest but the frame size of the thumbnail images becomes the largest for printing the index prints. It, however, is inconvenience to the user to judge and select the suitable template, and the operation of the conventional printer is intractable.